Postponement and recuperation of Belgian fertility: how are they related to rising female educational attainment?

Fertility trends in Europe after 1970 are routinely referred to in terms of the
postponement of fertility. The shortening of the effective reproductive lifespan
and its association with post-materialist values have raised questions as to
whether fertility can or will be recuperated. Decomposition of cohort fertility in
Belgium by level of education shows that the postponement of fertility after 1970
is closely related to the expansion of education: compared with cohorts born in
1946-1950, 40 to 50 per cent of the difference in cumulated fertility at age 25 in
the 1951-1975 birth cohorts is attributable to rising educational levels.
Educational differentials also prove relevant with regard to the recuperation of
fertility at older ages as the tempo and quantum of order-specific fertility have
responded differently to variations in the economic and policy context, depending
on the educational level considered. Differential fertility trends by level of
education have thus attenuated the relationship between female educational
attainment and completed fertility in recent cohorts.